(INDIANAPOLIS) - You have to admit the first round of the NBA play-off season, at least insofar as the Indiana Pacers are concerned, was a cliff-hanger with a lot of gnashing of teeth over the coach and whether the team had just more or less packed-up and left town.

But, that was a rush to judgement and the Pacers were able to end the hopes of the Atlanta Hawks, and emerge from the seventh and final game, victorious.

When the last buzzer of the night sounded at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the crowd erupted into raucous cheering as the Pacers sent the Hawks packing 92-80.

The Pacers now move take on the fifth-seeded Washington Wizard for the first and second games of the semi-final conference round on Monday and Wednesday before heading out to Washington.